Pigsy in Efffusion Gallery, Duval Street

 Today was an unbelievably cold day in Key West - record lows of temperature in the 50's.  On a day like that, it calls for a nice alcoholic beverage to warm you up.  

In advance of going for said alcoholic drink, I stopped by Effusion Gallery to check out the (decreasing) Irish artist, Pigsy's collection.  I say decreasing, or ever dwindling, because pieces from the collection keep getting sold!

Today I was saying goodbye to the painting "S.E.B." before it headed off to its new home.  It's a great piece and I was glad to see it one more time in situ in Key West.

From there, I headed on to Alonzos to meet with my friend Lara and her friend Tracy.  I met Lara 8 or 9 years ago when I was in Cancun, meeting the first day of the vacation and spending the rest of the time together. The abiding memory from that holiday is playing a lot of volleyball - in the mornings, and then a lot of drinks in the pool in the afternoon.  She is from Texas and was in town for the Mile Marker Zero festival. We had the loveliest of time together, Lara being as fabulous and fun as ever.  It's just lovely staying in touch with people who you click with.

All of that made for a great day and warmed me up no doubt.  But now, I am back home and it is cold again - I am posting this from bed, drowning under a million blankets and a cat. Thoughts and prayers please!

Baby Leia has arrived!

 

Some wonderful Bebbington family news!  My little sister Lydia had a baby girl.  Both Lydia and Leia are doing well - all 56cm and 4.25kg of Leia!

When Lyd's husband went to register the birth, this stork was given for the baby - the stork is a national symbol of The Hague where they live.  And obviously cute because a stork universally represents the safe arrival of a new baby! 

Cold weather Key West!

 

It is forecast for Key West that we will see the lowest temperatures in decades tonight.

Pretty chilly this morning already!  Perfect day for our delivery subscription for the Ket West Citizen to kick in.  The cat agreed on this too.

For lunch we went to the lovely Cole's Peace bakery and shared a sandwich and a hearty tomato & basil soup.  It was just the ticket!

 And tomorrow, we will be eating Chicago pizza!!!  Patrick arranged some for a surprise treat.   We are both very much looking forward to try the first deep dish pizza for dinner.

Key West Yard Sale

Killed it on the yard sale app today!

Free! Got rid of this

Bought this night stand thing for cat litter for Buddy's bedroom.  $10!! What a bargain!

And SOLD these!

 

11th year blogging

 

Entering my 11th year of documenting my little life and have reached over one million views.  

Well, how about that!

Den, done

There! 

That's it.  My Lovbacken table arrived and that's it, this room is finished.  Plain and simple, the way I like it. God, how much do I abhor home decorating!

Key Lime pie to celebrate the room being finito

Christmas 2021

Figured I'd catch up a little on some blogging and post some photos from the Christmas holidays.

Christmas morning!

There were nearly tears when I realized that we hadn't bought the Irish customary bottle of Baileys and the one thing I was craving on Christmas morning was Baileys coffee.  Patrick saved the day! Out of the corner of my ear I hear him on the phone saying "great, thanks I will be there in 20 minutes".  He had rang his friend who had a bottle and he nipped over to get it for me

Look at this bold thing.

Christmas Day dinner!  Crab claws and devilled eggs and a bottle of bubbly.  The crab claws were HUGE and to be honest, four each ended up almost too much.  They were delicious but very rich also - hence four almost being too much.

St Stephen's Day (in Ireland) / Boxing Day (in Canada) / December 26th in USA

Trip Report - Effusion Gallery, Key West, Florida

 Delighted to see that Pigsy is now available here in Key West at the fabulous Effusion Gallery on the world famous Duval Street.

Side note.  We bought a new sofa for the room where my Pigsy (Three Times Broke) is displayed.  And I think they both co-ordinate and really tie the room together.  I'm getting a new rug and coffee table now so will post photos of the full room in time

Myself, Patrick and our friend's from across the street took ourselves straight down to Effusion as soon as we heard they were on display.  We made an evening of it and had drinks and lobster rolls in DJ's Clam Shack which is literally two doors away from the gallery which was handy! Nothing beats those lobster rolls!  

It was a really great evening looking at the wonderful art pieces and chatting with the gallery director. The majority of these pieces were painted during his year long residency in Malaga, Spain and the vibrancy and colors capture and express this. 

Look at me in the bottom left picture.  I am pointing to the little red dot.   SOLD! "Power Supply" was sold on the very first day the collection was put on the walls.  

As a follow on from our little art gallery trip it was exciting to see a Pigsy write up, one week later in The Citizen Newspaper.

Effusion Gallery is a cool gallery infused with a pop art vibe combined with Florida's rich flavor of color, whimsy and eclectic culture. I think Pigsy is a perfect addition to their collection.  I recommend you check it next time you are in Key West!  

And in advance of your visit you might be interested in reading about Key West art & culture here

New Year's Resolutions 2022

 New Year's Resolutions for 2022.  Not unlike other year's to be honest.  I've added one new one which has been annoying me for some time

1. Read more books (for the mind...and Jeopardy!)

2. Go to the beach more (for the soul)

3. Unsubscribe.  Start cleaning my yahoo mail.  Every time I receive an email hit unsubscribe so I don't receive any more.  Yep, am looking at you Priceline, GAP, Poshmark etc 

New Year's Resolutions January 2021: Dublinia: New year, same old Amy (amydublinia.blogspot.com)

Appears I didn't make any for 2020!  Sounds about right

New Year's Resolutions January 2019: Dublinia: New Year's Resolutions 2019 (amydublinia.blogspot.com)

New Year's Resolutions January 2018: Dublinia: New Years Resolutions! (amydublinia.blogspot.com)

Cat Litter reviews

This was the first cat litter we bought and it was pretty good tbh.

Positive: I love that it is good for the environment

Cons: I just felt there could be one out there that would do a little better at odour control.  On that basis I tried a few more.

This is the cat litter of alternative facts and fake news.  It is complete rubbish and does NOTHING it advertises.  And phewey did the poor little kitten's bedroom stink.

Oh! And it was the most expensive one!!!! (By a lot)

This definitely works.  But it definitely still ends up with your classic "cat litter" smell in the room/house.  This really is the primary thing I want to avoid:  one of the assurances that I gave Patrick on getting a cat was that our house would not smell.  So the search continued...

Ta Dah!  

This is the one. 

It is true, it provides a fragrant lavender fresh smell. Everything it says on the box it delivers on.  Look no further and go straight for this one.